


Please Come Home For Christmas

by fireofgrace



Series: Christmas 2020 [4]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Angst, Christmas, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Food, Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Men Crying, Nonbinary Racetrack Higgins, Prison, Racetrack Higgins Has ADHD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:21:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27888202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fireofgrace/pseuds/fireofgrace
Summary: Jack left two weeks ago without much of an explanation, leaving Race and Crutchie wondering if he would be back for Christmas.
Relationships: Crutchie & Jack Kelly, Crutchie & Racetrack Higgins, Racetrack Higgins & Jack Kelly
Series: Christmas 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036626
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Please Come Home For Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, I am back for day four, even if it is a little later. 
> 
> Tw - for implied abuse, talks about food, and mention of prisons 
> 
> As a note, I have implied that something is wrong with Crutchie's leg, but I don't know what, as I have limited medical knowledge. And a lot of Race's behaviour is based off of things I do a lot, because I can't sit still.
> 
> I hope you enjoy :)

“He’ll be here,” Charlie said confidently, as he stared out the window. He was definitely the more optimistic one out of him and Race, but there was still doubt in the back of his mind. 

“He won’t be, it’s too late now,” Race said, flopping against the sofa. They hated giving up on Jack like this, but it was midnight, and if he wasn’t home by now he wouldn’t be at all. 

“Jack promised,” Charlie said in a voice barely above a whisper. It wouldn’t be Christmas without Jack.

“Yeah he did,” Race frowned, hopping up onto the table, “but it ain’t Jackie’s fault, he can’t help it if he ain’t here,” they said, hands fidgeting in their lap. 

Charlie sighed, flopping back against the sofa, “I know, it just ain’t the same without him,” he said forcing his eyes to look away from the window. He wanted to stare out there until he saw Jack walking towards them. Jack had never broken a promise before, and it upset Charlie to think he would. 

“I’m gonna get some food, d’you want anything?” Race asked, sliding off of the table and jumping up and down a few times. They were restless, and needed something to do, or they would just end up walking around in circles. 

“Depends, what’re you getting?”

Race shrugged, “I’ll probably just cook up some pasta,” they said, bending down in pike before jumping up and down again. 

Charlie was pretty used to Race’s behaviour at this point, and didn’t bat an eyelid as they continued to do all kinds of weird things. “Sounds good, do you want to put some music on or something, it’s too quiet in here,” he said, stretching out his leg. It was always worse during the winter, that was something he was used to. 

Race nodded, picking up their phone, “your legs hurting,” they said, concern visible on their face. 

“Yeah,” Charlie said rather noncommittally. He was surprised with Race’s concern, his leg hurt him all the time. “It does that Tonio.”

“Well yeah, I know,” Race responded, as music flooded through the house, “I just worry about ya, you are my brother an’ all.”

Charlie smiled, “ain’t you sweet.”

Race frowned, throwing their phone onto the chair beside Charlie, “I’m gonna start cooking,” he mumbled, walking out of the room. 

With the music playing, Charlie tried to enjoy himself, tried to stop thinking about whether Jack would come home. He noticed that Race had put on his favourite song, and smiled, at least he wasn’t all alone this Christmas. 

*

Race returned about twenty minutes later with two bowls of pasta. There was a half hearted attempt at a sauce, and some cheese on top. 

“Thanks Tony,” Charlie smiled, as he was handed a bowl. He felt his stomach rumble as he began eating, realising he was actually very hungry. It was probably because neither of them had had dinner, distracted more by whether Jack was going to arrive or not. 

Race didn’t respond as he picked at the food, humming intermittently along with the music. 

It was one of Race’s better playlists, Charlie had decided. It gave off more relaxed vibes, rather than being a weird mismatch of whatever Race had stuck in their head. But still, his head was drawn to the window, wondering when Jack would come home. 

“That was good, I didn’t realise how hungry I was,” Charlie said, placing the bowl on the table beside him. 

“It was alright,” Race shrugged, “better than having nothing.” They knew they weren’t much of a cook, it was honestly a success if nothing burned, anything that was edible was a true win. 

“You’re gonna have to learn to cook at some point, we can’t live together forever,” Charlie said with a small smile. He couldn’t imagine not living with Race, but then again, he hadn’t been able to imagine living without Jack, and here they were. 

“I’ll probably live with Al, or Spot, and they can both cook,” they paused, not really believing his sentence, “well, they’re better than I am,” they amended. 

“That is true, I’ll have to teach you, maybe some supervision will keep you from burning the house down.” He laughed, they hadn’t needed to call the fire brigade yet, but never say never.

Race laughed, shaking his head, “I don’t think that’ll help much Charlie,” they admitted, standing up and taking the two bowls to the kitchen, “but if you could teach me how to cook anything other than pasta, that would be great,” they said, popping their head round the door, which made Charlie jump. 

“That’s settled then, operation teach Tony to cook is in motion!”

The next few hours passed with neither saying much. Race got up a few times, unable to sit still for too long, but they both had their eyes fixated on the window, just wanting Jack to come home. 

It had been two weeks since they had seen Jack last. The elder had left with a crude goodbye, and a promise he would be back for Christmas. He said he had to sort something out, and then left. Neither of them had heard from him since, they just wanted their brother home for Christmas.

“I think you should go to bed Charlie, it’s late,” Race said in a soft voice, as they curled up under a blanket. 

“Only if you do, we should both try and sleep,” Charlie said, trying to gain back his role as the older brother. Sure they were both over eighteen now, and ‘responsible’ adults, but he was still a whole year older than Race. 

“Bold of you to assume I sleep,” Race snorted in response. It was true, they did have a pretty rubbish track record with sleep, eventually deciding they had evolved past the need for it. They hadn’t, of course, and Race was pretty sure if Jack was here, he would slap them. “Go on up, I’ll go to bed in a minute.” 

Charlie was a little hesitant, knowing how impulsive Race was, he didn’t want them to do something stupid, but he went up, “knock on my door when you come up please,” he said, giving Race an almost threatening look. 

“I will, don’t you worry, I’ll only be a minute.”

Charlie nodded, believing Race, before making his way slowly up the stairs. 

Race waited till Charlie was out of earshot, before picking up their phone. It was a long shot, they knew that, but they needed Jack home for Christmas. Clicking on Jack’s contact, he called their brother, desperate to hear his voice. 

Unsurprisingly, it went to voicemail, forcing Race to leave a message. It was only then, they realised how much they missed Jack, they had never been apart this long, not since the day they had first met. 

“Uh, hey Jackie, I don’t know if you’ll ever listen to this, but I miss you so much. Please come home. Me an’ Charlie, we miss you so much, we want you home for Christmas, just like you promised. But if not, please tell me your safe, not out being my dumb big brother. We both need you, even if we won’t admit it to each other. Charlie’s leg is hurtin’ him, and I don’t know what to do, I hate seeing him in pain. I know you can help him feel better, so please come home. Please come back to us. I love you Jackie.”

Race could feel tears rolling down their cheeks by the time they’d finished. It hurt. It hurt so badly to be apart from someone they loved so much. They paused the music, making sure to turn all the lights off, before making their way upstairs. It didn’t take long to knock on Charlie’s door, making sure to call out goodnight before heading into their own room. 

Sleep wasn’t going to come, Race knew that already, so they instead got comfortable, staring at the clock as it ticked ever closer to morning. 

*

Charlie woke to the sound of someone sobbing. He sat up immediately, feeling immense concern for Race. The kid had a habit of pretending to be okay, and if Charlie had missed them being upset, he’d feel awful. 

Race wasn’t in their room, so Charlie had to navigate his way downstairs, needing to know if they were okay. He almost fell to his knees at what he saw. Race was sobbing in the arms of his brother. Jack was home, he’d come home for Christmas, just as he’d promised. 

“Jackie,” Charlie called out, collapsing into the arms of his brother as soon as he hugged him. 

“Hey Charlie, I missed you so much, I’m so sorry,” Jack said, voice uneven, as he was also crying. 

The crying mess that was the three of them eventually made their way onto the sofa, still holding one another tightly. 

“Where did you go Jack?” Charlie asked, once he felt able to talk again. There was a slight apprehension in his voice, part of him wondering whether it would be better to just not know. 

“Um,” Jack’s voice faltered, “there were talks about Snyder getting out of prison, and since I testified last time, they invited me to come,” he said, feeling Race’s arms wrap tighter around him. 

“Why didn’t you tell us, we could’ve come with you. Why didn’t you talk to us at all?” Race asked, appearing to be both visibly upset, and shaken. 

Jack could understand why. Talking about Snyder was like opening a dam for Race. Sure, both he and Charlie had had bad homes before arriving at Snyder’s, but that was Race’s first foster home, and the kid had just escaped his dad. This was why he hadn’t told either of them, neither of them needed the bad memories that were bound to come from being reminded of being at Snyder’s. 

“You’re both gonna think I’m dumb, but I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want to hurt either of you. And I didn’t call, because I knew you would both ask questions, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to answer them,” Jack explained immediately feeling Charlie knock his shoulder. 

“You don’t even know how dumb you are,” Charlie shook his head. He had to take a deep breath to keep everything under control, he did not need to cry anymore. 

“Synder ain’t getting out is he?” Race asked in a small voice, looking up at Jack with wild eyes. They were terrified, even thinking Snyder might have the chance to come back and hurt them. It opened a can of worms they had been trying so hard to repress.

“No, of course not Tony, I would have started with that if that was the case. No, he’s in till the end of his sentence, both of you are safe,” he promised them both, giving Race’s shoulder a little squeeze. 

“You’re still dumb,” Charlie said calmly, but deep down he was breathing a sigh of relief, he didn’t know he could feel safe if Snyder was out. 

“I know, it just seemed the right thing at the time. Just know I am not going anywhere for a long time, I missed you guys so much,” Jack said, taking a deep breath, it had been a long two weeks. 

“I’m not going to let you go anywhere,” Charlie laughed slightly, squeezing Jack’s hand tightly. 

Jack smiled, being around his brothers made everything better, “why don’t I let you both get dressed, we can’t mope around all day, it is Christmas after all.”

The three of them got up off the sofa, Race a little reluctant to let go, then went their separate ways to get ready. The doorbell rang as Race walked back downstairs, it was roughly five minutes later, and they were really looking forward to a cup of coffee. 

“Medda?” they called excitedly, immediately wrapping their arms around the woman. If they had thought seeing Jack was exciting, seeing Medda doubled that. They had spent two days thinking Charlie was the only person they were going to see at Christmas, so seeing them both filled his heart with joy. 

“Hey baby, it’s good to see you,” Medda responded, holding the kid tightly. She could tell they needed that, she always had been able to. Race had always been the easiest to read, and Jack the hardest, but Medda knew a lot had changed since she saw them all last. 

“I’ve missed you,” they admitted, pulling away from the embrace. 

“I’ve missed you too sweetheart, now are you gonna let me in or not?” she smiled, picking up a large bag from the floor. 

“Oh yeah, sorry,” Race said with a small smile, stepping to the side so Medda could come in. It was looking like today was going to be a good day. 

Medda said hello to both the boys, revealing afterwards the feast she had brought. 

“I knew you guys were unlikely to have got anything cooked, so everything is prepared and we can put it in whenever you’re ready,” Medda said, hand still resting on Jack’s shoulder. They all looked like hell, but she wasn’t really surprised, she was just glad they all seemed to be okay. 

“Thank you Medda,” Jack said with a smile, “we’re lucky the kitchen’s still in use after Tonio was left unsupervised for so long.” 

Race was quick to hit Jack on the arm, frowning, “I wasn’t unsupervised, Charlie was here, and anyway, I cooked yesterday and nothing got burnt.” 

“Wow look at you go, you’ll be a master chef in no time,” Jack teased, flinging his arm around the younger’s shoulder. 

“I don’t know about that, but Charlie said he’d teach me.”

Charlie nodded, he did indeed say that. Although he was now wondering if he had signed up to teach the unteachable. He looked around at everyone, everyone he was going to spend Christmas day with. His family. Jack had kept his promise, and now his family were altogether. Everyone seemed happy, and it warmed his heart. 

Sure he was tired, verging on exhaustion, but today was going to be a good day. Scratch that, today was going to be an amazing day, and Charlie felt so lucky to have a family as amazing as the three people in front of him.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone ever wants me to add tags for triggers on any of my works, please either comment, or let me know on my tumblr @just-give-me-half-a-cup 
> 
> I take all of that really seriously, so please let me know as I don't want any of you to get hurt by my work.
> 
> Love you all ♡


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